Tetsugakure's Snowstorm
by Saberdragon Entertainment
Summary: This is a one-shot origin story for Iron Shadow's Polaris Kori. Where did she come from? What happened to her parents? What makes her so powerful? You'll find out two of these answers and hints for the third when you read Tetsugakure's Snowstorm.


**Disclaimer: I do not own any part of the Naruto franchise**

_Time: 3 Years Prior to Invasion of Pain_

_4 Years Prior to Founding of Tetsugakure_

_Place: Yukigakure, the Hidden Snow Village_

_Date: April 4__th_

* * *

Polaris Kori had never felt this cold in her entire 12-year life. As she trudged along through the snowy streets of Yukigakure, a flurry of snow kept her from reaching any level of comfort. Yet another mission for the madman Dotō was complete and Polaris just wanted to sleep for the rest of the day. As she reached the street on which her house resided, Polaris discovered that she wouldn't be getting any sleep for a long time to come.

Even from the end of the street, Polaris could see that her house was no longer intact. The crowd standing outside wasn't a good sign either. Polaris didn't even notice that she was no longer tired as she ran as fast as she could to where her home used to stand.

"Mom? Dad?" she shouted as she entered the destroyed house.

Two minutes later, Polaris found her parents. But she also found herself wishing she were still on the mission.

Her father was found first, lying in a pool of his own blood in what used to be the foyer. A large, deep gash across his back from the neck down was the cause of death. Polaris bit her lip to keep from breaking down right there, but she wanted to see if her mother was there too. Unfortunately, Mrs. Kori had met a similar fate. She was found with a slit throat in the ruined bedroom. No longer restraining herself, Polaris let out a long and mournful wail as she broke down into heavy sobs.

* * *

_4 Years Later..._

Polaris clenched the cloak around her body, struggling to stay warm in the harsh blizzard. Homeless, she had to survive in one of the alleys of Yukigakure. Lady Koyuki had offered her a room at a shelter, but Polaris had declined, telling the Daimyo to give the room to someone who needed it more than she did. She may not have been a very skilled ninja, but Polaris definitely had a big heart. As she turned her head away from the wind, she tried to go to sleep, knowing that it might kill her, but she was okay with that. She was ashamed of living, believing that she lost that right when she was unable to save her parents from rouge ninja.

Suddenly, she felt the presence of another person and opened her eyes to find herself surrounded by a shadow. She turned her head and found herself looking into ocean blue eyes that seemed to hold many secrets. The eyes belonged to a blond-haired man who was crouched in the snow next to her.

"You look like you could use a hot meal and a warm place to sleep." the man said.

"W-w-who a-r-re y-y-you?" she managed in between shivers.

"My name's Naruto Uzumaki." he answered. "What's yours?"

"P-polaris K-k-kori." she said.

"Well, Polaris, come with Me." he told her. "We need to get you warmed up."

Naruto offered her his hand and helped her to stand. He took off his cloak and placed it over her shoulders as he led her out of the alley and down the street.

"Why are you helping me?" she asked as they walked.

"Because you need help and that's what I do." Naruto told her.

"I don't deserve help, I deserve to die." Polaris told him somberly.

"Nonsense." he rebuked her. "Why would you deserve to die?"

"Because I'm no good as a ninja." she told him. "I couldn't save my parents from an attack, and I'm not strong enough to take on missions to support myself."

"That's no excuse." Naruto told her. "It's not your fault that you couldn't save your parents as long as you tried your hardest. Sometimes things happen that we can't control."

"What would you know about that?" she asked, somewhat angry.

"More than you think trust me." he told her. "But we can talk about that later. This place should be perfect."

They had reached a small ramen restaurant that had served Yuki for years. Upon entering, Polaris was introduced to the smell of fresh ramen. It was the best thing she had ever smelled. An older gentleman walked out of the backroom and stopped behind the counter.

"Welcome to Ichiraku's Ramen!" the man greeted them. "What can I do for you?"

"Table for two please." Naruto told him while Polaris was still looking around the restaurant. It was a fairly normal place; there were booths along the outside wall and down two aisles in the middle. The walls were painted a soft beige color that accented the hardwood floor well. Aside from Naruto and Polaris, there were only three other patrons: a couple in the corner and a lone young man with shoulder-length raven hair and a black cloak seated by the left wall.

"Right this way." the owner told them after grabbing a pair of menus.

After they had ordered – Polaris letting Naruto decide for her since she had never eaten ramen – Naruto observed his companion over folded hands.

"You have a bloodline, don't you?" he suddenly asked.

After getting over her surprise at the question, Polaris responded with one of her own.

"Yes. How did you know?"

"The fact that you're still alive." he explained. "That obviously wasn't your first night in that alley. You looked too, for lack of a better term, set in your spot. The next part of what clued me in was the fact that the temperature in Yukigakure drops well below freezing at night. So, several nights of exposure to this extreme cold should have killed you a long time ago. Since we're having this conversation, I'm guessing there's something else keeping you alive. And since your body isn't that warm, I'm guessing you have the Hyoton bloodline."

"My father was from a family of Hyoton-wielding shinobi." Polaris told him. "It's the reason he was killed."

"What do you mean?" Naruto questioned.

"Four years ago, I returned home from a mission for Lord Dotō." Polaris began. "I found my house destroyed and my parents dead. However, I couldn't do anything about it because I was forced to continue my mission schedule. Dotō told me that he would have the murders investigated, but he never did. By the time Lady Koyuki took the throne, I had pretty much given up hope of finding the answer. Then, last year, I was kidnapped."

"What?"

"I was with a team of two other shinobi that was sent to Kiri for the Chunin exams. However, en route, we were ambushed. The other two were killed and I was taken prisoner. I found out during my imprisonment that my captors were a special group of rouges who were collecting Kekkai Genkai for their leader. They told me that since my father put up so much of a struggle, they would have to settle with me. Thankfully, I was rescued by someone."

"Who was it?"

"That's just it. I don't know." Polaris answered. "All I know is that he had raven-black hair and coal black eyes. A black bandana was covering the bottom half of his face and a black hood obscured his forehead. The only other identifying feature was the necklace he wore. It was a black cord strung through three teal rings."

This piece of information surprised Naruto, but Polaris didn't notice since the food arrived at that moment. He decided to file that information away for later.

* * *

_The Next Day..._

After the best sleep she had in years, Polaris woke up to the smell of fresh eggs and toast for breakfast. This was followed by "lounging" as Naruto called it, which involved them sitting across from each other on two large, comfortable pillows and talking.

"You don't think you're that great of a ninja." Naruto began. "We can't have that. So I want to ask you, do you want to become stronger?"

Polaris was quick with her answer.

"Yes." she responded. "I want to improve my abilities so that one day I can find the rouges that killed my parents and destroy them."

"Okay. Right answer, wrong reasons."

"What do you mean?" she asked venomously.

"Easy Polaris. I'm on your side, never forget that. What I mean is that you can't go after those guys for revenge. That will lead you down a path that you definitely don't want to travel. Now I'm not saying that those scumbags don't need to pay for their crimes."

"Then what are you saying?

"I'm saying that the right reason to go after them would be to make sure they don't hurt anyone else." Naruto explained.

"What are you getting at?"

"The greatest lesson I've ever learned is that it's not until you've protected someone precious to you that the true strength of the shinobi can emerge."

"But I don't have anyone 'precious' to me." she interjected.

"That will come in time, Polaris." Naruto assured her. "But for right now, you could do what I've sometimes done and fight to protect those who can't protect themselves."

"Why did you say 'sometimes'?"

"Well, I have several people that are precious to me. But when I'm on a mission and don't know what's happening to those people either way, I instead motivate myself by helping other people, such as the client or, say, a victim. They become my temporary 'precious' people. And sometimes they become one of my actual 'precious' people, like Lady Koyuki."

"What? What have you done for Lady Koyuki?"

Naruto chuckled at the question as he remembered his last mission to the Land of Snow.

"I'm the reason she became the Daimyo." he told Polaris. "Several years ago, I was a member of a team that was assigned to escort the actress Yukie Fujikaze from Konoha to the Land of Snow."

"Yukie Fujikaze? From the 'Princess Gale' movies?" Polaris questioned.

"Yeah that's her." Naruto replied. "As it turns out, Yukie was just an alias for Lady Koyuki Kazahana."

"I knew she looked like Lady Koyuki!" Polaris exclaimed. "My friend Miko never believed me, but I knew it was her!"

"Heh-heh. Yeah, she had us fooled for a while too." Naruto said. "Anyway, long story short, Lady Koyuki was tricked into coming back so that she could take over the Land of Snow. She didn't want to. Dotō Kazahana, her uncle, tried to have Lady Koyuki assassinated. Fortunately, my team and I were able to protect her and defeat Dotō."

"But you said _you _were the reason she became the Daimyo, not you and your team."

"Right. I said that because I was the one who managed to talk some sense into Lady Koyuki so that she realized that her people needed her."

"So if I have someone to fight for – one of these 'precious people' – I can become stronger?"

"Much stronger." Naruto confirmed as he stood up. "Use that as your motivation and you'll be able to do almost anything. Now come on, we're going to get started."

"Started on what?"

"Well you've been in a bit of a slump for a while from what I've heard. So we're going to get you back into the groove and start improving ourselves together."

* * *

_Two Weeks Later..._

"That's it Polaris!" Naruto exclaimed. "Now stay focused on the rotation! I can't believe you're picking this up so fast!"

Polaris listened to Naruto's advice and concentrated. The blue orb in her hand was hard to keep under control, but she stayed on course.

"Alright, now hit that boulder!" Naruto instructed.

Polaris charged the boulder with her hand cocked back.

"_Concentrate, concentrate, concentrate._" Polaris repeated to herself, before...

"**Rasengan**!"

She slammed the orb into the rock while releasing her control. The **Rasengan** shattered the boulder completely.

"Great work!" Naruto praised.

Panting slightly, Polaris smiled at the success of her hard work. Over the course of the last two weeks, Naruto had really gotten her fired up and on her way to becoming a very powerful Kunoichi. The first week was spent in physical training; Naruto wanted to know just how strong and fast Polaris was. In addition, he started her on the same daily training regimen that he himself went through. This involved running, push-ups, sit-ups, chakra control exercises, and various other activities. Then, the second week came and Naruto began teaching her his father's prized technique, the **Rasengan**.

Every night, the two of them would talk; the subjects were over a wide range of topics. During one of these conversations, it came up that Polaris was a huge fan of the Fourth Hokage. Needless to say, she was awestruck when Naruto revealed that he was the son of her hero. This, combined with the knowledge that Polaris had an abnormally perfect chakra control, lead to Naruto's decision to teach her the **Rasengan**.

As Polaris stood there admiring her work, Naruto jogged over and handed her a bottle of water.

"That was about perfect." he told her. "After you practice it a lot it'll become second nature to form and maintain it."

"Thanks again for teaching me one of your dad's techniques." Polaris told him. "I can't even begin to describe how amazing it is to use the **Rasengan**."

"Glad you're happy." Naruto told her. "Now come on, let's see if Lady Koyuki has any missions for us."

"Alright."

Another change that came from meeting Naruto was that Polaris became much more active as a shinobi. The two of them had been taking on fairly routine missions for the village since about mid-way through the first week. It was mostly minor stuff like helping to collect firewood, unfreezing koi ponds and waterfalls, and clearing paths through the snow for some of the civilians. After every mission, the two of them would collect their pay, and then go out for lunch. When lunch was over, they began their evening training followed by a return to the hotel for the night. In the morning, they repeated the schedule of breakfast, training, mission, lunch, training, talk, sleep. Today however, would prove to be different.

* * *

When they got to the mission office, Naruto walked up to the clerk's desk. Without looking up from her work, the clerk handed Naruto a scroll. As he read the mission, Polaris made sure she had all of her equipment ready.

She wore a pair of pale blue, insulated leggings with a similarly colored skirt. The skirt had a dark blue trim and was fastened with a dark blue rope-like belt. For a top, she wore a long-sleeved, dark blue shirt. Over that, she wore a red cloak with a white fur collar that was fastened with a gold, star-shaped clasp. On her feet was a pair of dark-blue boots that had a gold cap over the toes. Accessory-wise, she wore a pair of black wrist bands and her Yukigakure headband, which had a new dark blue cloth. These new clothes were a gift from Lady Koyuki when the Daimyo found out about Polaris' new-found determination.

For his part, Naruto wore a pair of navy blue cargo pants with black combat boots. For a shirt, he wore a solid black version of his old jacket; the only difference was the new jacket didn't have a high collar. Naruto also wore a black cloak.

"Hey, Polaris." Naruto called to her.

"Yes?" she responded, slightly concerned at his tone.

"This is a...special mission." he told her. "Come on, we need to talk."

He led her out of the office and down the street. After a few minutes, they came to a small park. Naruto sat down on a bench and indicated for Polaris to sit next to him. Nobody else was in the park.

"Our mission is a strike on a bandit camp." Naruto began. "They're about twenty kilometers north of the village. According to the report, they're wanted for kidnapping of Academy students and retired shinobi. I'm sure you can figure out what's so special about that."

"They're the same ones who killed my parents and kidnapped me?"

"We think they're a part of the organization, but since they're only going after the two ends of the age spectrum for shinobi, it would seem that they aren't the high-level team that was able to kidnap you."

"What are we waiting for?" Polaris demanded as she leapt to her feet. "This is our chance to stop those dirt-bags, even if it's only a fragment."

"Are you sure you're going to be able to handle it?" Naruto asked her. "Are you going to be able to stay in control?"

Polaris couldn't believe her ears. Here was the one who had spent two weeks preparing her for just such a situation, and now he didn't think she was ready?

"What are you saying?" she demanded. "How could you even ask me something like that?"

"Because I'm worried about you." Naruto answered as he stood up. "I've seen what an insatiable thirst for vengeance can do to someone! I don't want you to end up on that same path." Then, he added in a barely audible whisper. "I don't want to lose you too."

This caught Polaris completely off-guard. Naruto had never been this open about his past. True, he didn't exactly say anything. But this was the first time he had even mentioned one of his 'precious people'.

"What should I do then?" Polaris asked, dejected.

"We're still going through with this mission." Naruto answered. "The only way for you to break the chain of revenge is to defeat it before it can ensnare you."

"You think I can?" she asked.

"Of course you can!" Naruto replied. "As long as you remember what's important and what you're fighting for."

"Then let's go!" she exclaimed with a renewed vigor.

* * *

_Later that day..._

It was snowing as sunset approached in the Land of Snow and Akuno Suraimu was getting frustrated. The prisoners were causing a ruckus again and the blithering idiots under his command couldn't muster enough Killer Intent to scare a rat.

"_If you want something done,_" the ex-ANBU thought to himself, "_you've got to get better help_."

As he left his command tent to scare the prisoners into silence, a very familiar scent caught his attention. It was the smell of blood.

"_Fantastic. We got someone trying to be a hero_."

He drew his sword from its sheath on his back before continuing on his way. When he reached the cages however, his expression turned from one of annoyance to one of rage. The holding cells were empty and the four guards were all dead.

* * *

Polaris and Naruto spied on Akuno as some of Naruto's clones escorted the prisoners to safety. After reaching the camp with relative ease, the two had set about executing the plan Naruto came up with on the way. Polaris had used her Kekkai Genkai to start a snowfall over the camp. This masked the sound of four of Naruto's clones as they crept up and slit the throats of the four guards. Then, Polaris froze the lock apart, enabling the two of them to free the prisoners.

Now they watched as the leader drew his sword and began marching in their direction.

"How did he detect the kills so fast?" Polaris whispered to her blonde companion.

"I have no idea." Naruto replied. "But he did and he's coming. I hope you're ready, because this is about to get really ugly."

"So we're not going to hold our cover?"

"No, you're not!" Akuno suddenly shouted. "**Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu**!**"**

Polaris and Naruto leapt away from each other as the flames raced towards them, impacting the ground where they stood the moment before. As she flew through the air, Polaris prepared an attack of her own.

"**Wind Style: Gusting Garuda**!"

As she thrust her hands forward, the wind around her responded and rushed towards Akuno. The attack took the form of a bird-like creature and sped at its target. Akuno leapt into the air to dodge it, but he placed himself right in line with Naruto's attack.

"**Wind Style:** **Great Breakthrough**!"

The blast of wind slammed into Akuno with the force of a hurricane and sent him skipping along the ground. Suddenly, the rouge-nin burst into a cloud of smoke.

"_A __**Shadow Clone**__?" _Naruto thought to himself. "_When did he make that?"_

Before he or Polaris could look around for Akuno, said rouge-nin burst from the top of the tree behind Naruto. Polaris turned around just in time to see Akuno thrust his blade through Naruto's stomach. However, the tables were turned as Naruto burst into a cloud of smoke too.

"What?" Akuno questioned.

"You're not the only one who can make **Shadow Clones**!" Naruto announced from above.

Akuno looked up and found out that Naruto was rapidly descending towards him, spiraling blue sphere in hand.

"**Rasengan**!" Naruto roared as he slammed the ball into Akuno's stomach.

The rotating motion of the attack sent Akuno into a rapid spin towards the ground. He landed at an angle and he skipped across the ground, coming to a rest in a small pond. Unfortunately for him, this was exactly what Polaris was waiting for.

"**Water Prison Jutsu**!"

The pond in the water coalesced into a large sphere with Akuno trapped inside. But Polaris wasn't done yet. She walked over to the sphere and placed her hand on the surface of the water.

"You wanted my Kekkai Genkai." she said in a venomous tone. "Well, here it is! **Ice Style: Flash Freeze**!"

Ice started to spread from Polaris' hand, across the surface of the water. Inside, Akuno began panicking. But it was too late. A few moments after the technique was started, the entire sphere of water was completely frozen and Polaris removed her hand. She then held her hand out flat and a **Rasengan** formed over her palm. Even with Akuno defeated however, Polaris began to lose control of her temper. Her eyes began glowing silver and the **Rasengan** changed to a shining silver color too.

"This is for my family!" Polaris yelled.

"Polaris stop!" Naruto shouted at her.

She ignored him while thrusting the sphere into the ice prison. The effect was instantaneous as the entire block shattered and so did Akuno's body. But it still didn't satisfy Polaris. The silver chakra started to form an aura around her body and her hair started shifting colors too.

"Polaris, you need to calm down!" Naruto told her as he came running over. "It's over Polaris. He's dead. You need to get a hold of yourself!"

Unfortunately, Polaris couldn't hear him. She was completely distracted by the hurricane of power that was building inside her. But then, something broke through.

"_The shine of the snowstorm will awaken the guardian._" a voice said inside of her mind. "_And where the seven fail, the Empress shall rise_."

The aura dissipated and Polaris' features returned to normal. As she started to collapse from exhaustion, Naruto caught her. When he saw that she was out cold, he shifted her in his arms so that he was holding her bridal style. Then, Naruto began the long trek back to the Village.

**A/N: And that is that.** **So ends the origin story of Polaris Kori. I'm sure some of you are wondering "What about the part where they leave Yukigakure?" You'll find out the answer to that another time. I want to apologize for this taking so long, but I've been busy running a Chapter and writing essays for college. Let me know what you think of this story and of all that went on. A lot of things you saw here will be making a return soon in **_**Iron Shadow**_**. Plus, the "prophecy" and the mysterious voice inside Polaris' mind will play a huge part of the plot of **_**Iron Shadow**_**. Thanks for reading and for sticking with me!**

** p.s. See if you can guess who Polaris' rescuer was. Here's a hint: he actually appears twice in this story.**

**Here is a guide to this story's Saberdragon-original jutsu:**

**[Name - Type - User(s) - Description]**

**Wind Style: Gusting Garuda**** – Ninjutsu – Polaris Kori – Faster version of Wind Style: Great Breakthrough. The wind from the attack is formed into the shape of a large bird that then rushes at the target at high speed.**

**Ice Style: Flash Freeze**** – Ninjutsu – Polaris Kori – Allows user to freeze any body of water. However, the larger the body of water, the more chakra it takes to perform this attack**


End file.
